David Moyes
How much of a boost would it be to win the group and qualify for the Round of 16 with a game to spare?
It would do, we are fully aware of it. We hope we can do that. We will go out with the intention of winning it and go out with the intention of getting done early. Whatever you say, we’ve still got Premier League games, we’ve got Manchester United at the end of this week in which we’ve already had a game on Monday, now a game on Thursday, but we all know that if we can win this game, it puts an awful lot to bed, especially later on because obviously you miss a couple of games in the qualifying round.
You mastered playing on a Thursday and Sunday last year, do you think you are doing it again?
I don’t know if I have mastered it and I don’t know if teams have got over it if I’m being honest. We did master it in as much as we won the group last year and we got ourselves in a really good position but I think when it came to the quarter-finals and semi-finals with home and away ties and knockout stages, and we were in the period. I think if you win the group, you don’t play until March, so suddenly you have quarter-finals, semi-finals if you are good enough which are actually right in the period of the season where it probably has a bigger effect after those games because we had to play all of those players. What we’ve been able to do in most of these games in the early rounds is chop five or six players here or there and change it and give ourselves players who don’t need to play every Thursday and Sunday. When you get to those stages, you are nearly having to play your best teams and that has an effect and did have an effect on us last year. I agree, I think we’ve done it quite well and I’m pleased about that, the same reason is we strengthened the squad partly because I felt probably come February or March last year, we didn’t really have the numbers to cope with the games we had.
What is the difference between Wednesday/Saturday and Thursday/Sunday?
It’s a really good question, I had the same problem when I was at Everton, I had the same problem in the year when we got into Europe and then we thought we were going in, that situation I think just the Sunday, I think there is a psychological thing about it. I definitely think that the lack of recovery, getting ready the lack of preparation between the game on a Thursday [and a Sunday]. You have to think when you finish, you are probably not away until midnight most games at night, if you are away from home you are having to travel back, you are probably at best having a day/half a day to try and get yourself ready for the next game and to prepare for the Premier League games, that is really difficult.
Do you feel in the last year and a half you have made the London Stadium your home?How do you think you have made it into more of a fortress?
I think it’s a little bit of the opposite, I think the supporters have found it home now and have realised this is where home is, this is where your team play, this is a team who many have supported their whole life. Yes, many might not have wanted it to be the case but I have to say, I think the supporters have taken to it and said ‘look this is what we’ve got, we’re probably here for I don’t know 100 years now so we might as well show everybody what we’re going to do and how we turn that into a hard place to come, a fortress.’ I think we’ve got a bit to go to call it fortress, but I think the club have helped by bringing in behind the goals, a bit at the side. I think we’re trying to make it more friendly for young ones to come, we’re trying an awful lot of things to make it a better spectacle for all of the supporters. I think more importantly, my praise will go to the players and how well they have done because I think if you’ve got a good team, it’s a lot easier to support your team. It doesn’t matter where you play and I think over the last couple of years, we’ve had a good team.
How will you look to use the squad with this run of three games in six days and a trip to Manchester United on Sunday?
You’re right, we have to think about most scenarios. Let’s be fair, I’ve thought about them in all of the games. The next game is the most important and our next game is Silkeborg and that is the most important, we have also got other things we have to keep in mind. We’re trying to and keep ourselves fresh and ready for the level of games we’ve got coming up.
Like your run in the Europa League last season, do you see this competition as one that you could use to really help build your season in the Premier League?
I do. I see this as an opportunity for us to go really far in another competition. We got to the semi-final last year, my aim is to hopefully go further than that and do better but it’s easy saying that now because we know that other teams will come into it later on as well. Even to win the FA Cup or League Cup in this country is really difficult, look at the quality of Manchester City and Liverpool and the domination those teams have had and whether it be the league or the cup competitions, Arsenal have come into that a little bit over recent years as well. We have to try and do everything we can to win this competition. We’ve qualified at the moment which you have to say job done. Job done as far as seeing the group come out, the next little bit is can you put the icing on the cake and win the group and miss out one game and go into the last 16 in March.
Have you looked at the handball against Bournemouth and have you had any clarity on it from the PGMOL?
I have seen it, I think Thilo’s arms at his side tucked in, I don’t see any way it is out away from his body. From that point of view, I have to say that I think that it’s hit him in the arm, I accept that but his arm’s not been away from his body in any way. I think it’s hit him in here. I think if you score the goal, you think it’s okay. If you don’t, you think it’s not. To answer your question, no I’ve not heard anything back. If we hear back that it shouldn’t have been given then that would be really unlucky on Bournemouth, but it wasn’t unlucky on Bournemouth on the night, we were the better team and we deserved to win. You’ve got to be careful that you don’t focus on those sort of moments.
Do you think there has been enough consistency in recent refereeing decisions?
I don’t think there’s not been enough consistency, that’s a different question to the one you’ve just asked. I don’t think there’s enough consistency. Our penalty [shout] at Southampton on Tomas Soucek compared to Chelsea Manchester United with Scott McTominay and Broja. I couldn’t see anything which would have split them apart to say why would one be a penalty and one wouldn’t. I don’t see that. There is things, but I’m sure every manager has their own things to look at at the moment. We’ve had plenty here.
What do you make of Silkeborg?
They are a really good team. We’ve had Viborg in the qualifying round, I think they are second in the Danish league. We’ve now had Silkeborg who I think are third or fourth in the Danish league. Think I saw Sevilla went to Copenhagen and drew in Copenhagen, who are midway down the table at the moment or halfway up the table. I think Danish football is really on an incredible up at the moment. Their national team are [tenth] in the world right now. I think Danish football has got an awful lot going for it, I think they are producing a lot of really good players. I think their style is excellent, I do, I have to say I really, really admire it. The two teams we’ve played have played really, really well against us and it’s shown. If anybody thinks in any way we are taking this any differently or think anything differently, no, we’re not because we see them as a really good side. But in truth, we do have a really big game on Sunday and we’ve just come out of a big game on Monday as well so we have to really consider it. We’ve got 12 points in the group and we’d hope that would certainly be enough to see us win the group and it’s not. We hope that we can pick up more points and see ourselves top the group.
How tough has this week been with three games in six days, especially with the incentive of climbing up the Premier League table?
Everybody is feeling really difficult. I thought it might have been easily to maybe put Leeds and Fulham on on Monday night, that’s just one game I could think of off the top of my head, if that had been on Monday I don’t think anybody would have said anything different from West Ham and Bournemouth. Let’s be fair, we weren’t just talking about it a week before it happened, we actually tried doing something about it probably two months ago when we knew the scheduling. We probably couldn’t so we take it. You have to take in consideration the amount of short turnarounds we’ve had has been the most in the Premier League and obviously, that didn’t help. What did help is that we had a couple of extra days to prepare for the Bournemouth game because of the game at Liverpool, so it helped us one little way that way. This week has become really difficult.
Are you thinking ahead about trying to win the competition or are you not worrying about the other teams you could face?
I’m not worried at the moment because I am hoping I can win the group, from the position we are in, we should do and if we do that then we will look at the qualifying round and the teams who drop out of the qualifying round. I think once we see that, we will get an idea but I’ve been looking through quite a few things and some of the teams, Fiorentina have been doing very well, the team from Istanbul whose second name I can’t get right, but the team from Istanbul are doing very well. Basel started very well, you look at the goals and the teams that are scoring. There will be big competition when it comes to it and ultimately, we need to be in good form. I think all of the really good teams, if you are talking about the teams who win things, you have to come into form getting towards the end of the season. Last season, I think we were in form right at the start of the season and our form sort of dropped away a little bit from where we were really at. We had some great performances in Seville and at home and Lyon and stuff like that, but generally, I hope we are building towards getting better. I always remember Sir Alex (Ferguson) talking about really needing to be good in the final furlong, be good in the run-in and maybe this season, that is the way we are going to go. We are going to be much better in the end part than we were and if it does, then hopefully, it’ll get us further in the cups.
Is Nayef Aguerd available to face either Silkeborg or Manchester United and long-term, what will he bring you?
At the moment he is not in contention for Sunday. Hoping to have him in the squad tomorrow and have him back one way or the other. What will he bring? At the moment, I don’t want to put too much on him and give him time. He is a really good footballer. He plays the game very well. He is a good reader of the game. He is quick enough, he is good in the air. We see a lot of good aspects in him. But because he has not played any Premier League games, it is really difficult for us to give an overall judgement. I don’t think he is ready to go into the Premier League yet but he could be ready to play a few of these games.
Did you consider playing him in under-21s matches or are you avoiding the risk?
If our under-21s had been at home at the weekend, they were away to Brighton. I would probably have played him. He is keen. He is a really good lad, a really great character, well liked within the group. And I hope I am proved right, he has not played for a while now, but we think he is a really stylish footballer and we hope he will help us going forward. But if you are looking instant, if you think the first game you see, is he going to go brilliant. You shouldn’t be expecting that. But I hope we can build him up and get him ready over the coming weeks. He will go to play for Morocco to the World Cup. And I hoping when he returns from the World Cup, he will be much more ready and we will have to start to get him ready for the Premier League.
If you get through tomorrow, will you play the kids in the final group game vs FCSB?
No, not at the moment I’m not because I need to do the job first. I’ve got to get my job done and I have to try and pick up a point or more points. The difference you’ve got, we’ve got a really young group of under-21s this year. Last year, it was more experienced, we finished second in Premier League 2 and doing really well, we sent a lot of the boys out on loan or they moved on. We’re a much younger group, so it limits my options of what I have got with the younger boys at the moment.
Do you seen any similarities between Gianluca Scamacca and Marko Arnautovic?
I don’t think you’ll get many Markos, Marko was a one off. Marko was a great guy, I really got on well with Marko and liked him a lot because sort of he challenged me, I sort of challenged him back. He stood up to me and showed that all of the things I didn’t think he could do, he did do. He went on to do them really well and has continued to do them well. Gianluca is interesting because he’s a really good lad, really nice lad and he’s got some great traits. Lots of really good hold up play, stature, can score with his head, got good feet, close control. A cannon in his right foot, so he’s go an awful lot of traits that make you go ‘wow.’ He’s got a lot of things which I think he could do better. I think he needs to get in the box quicker, sometimes he’s laboured outside but I think that’s partly because he’s nearly hoping he gets it outside because he’s got a boom of a right foot. His movement is good, there’s bits that I think he can look at which we’re going to show him and we think we can help him, but he’s a really good character. I keep saying this, to find really good young centre forwards nowadays is really hard, the level. I watched Salzburg last night against Chelsea, it was a great game. The quality that Salzburg have got, young centre forwards, knowing what’s required. It’s so difficult nowadays to get someone who can come in make a difference as a centre forward, really really hard. (Harry) Kane’s and there’s some really special centre forwards, (Erling) Haaland, (Gabriel) Jesus at Arsenal are all special. To get one like that is really, really hard so we’re hoping that he’s going to get better and the big thing about him is he’s really all ears, everything at the moment is exciting to him in the Premier League and new, which we hope he will get better with.
How exciting is it to have Nayef Aguerd in the squad tomorrow, considering how long you’ve wanted to have him?
You have to remember that we tried to sign him two years ago. We tried to buy him not last summer, but the summer before and we couldn’t get him, they wouldn’t sell at the time. We kept an eye on him and his form stayed the same and better. He will give us hopefully natural left-footed balance as a central defender which I am always keen to have if I can get it and over the years, if you look at what Angelo Ogbonna has done for us, he’s been brilliant. Even at Angelo’s age, I needed competition for Angelo. So I see Nayef hopefully giving us something we have not had. There’s always that bit when you are bringing players in that you just need to say ‘come on’ and give them a bit of breathing space to see how he gets use to playing what he comes up against in the Premier League.
Have Morocco been in touch regarding his recovery?
They’ve been great. Once he was injured, we sent him back to their base in Morocco and he did all of his early rehab with them and took him through the early stages which was very good. At the moment, I have had contact with one of the scouts from Morocco who I think is quite keen to come out and see him play before the World Cup. Hopefully, we are really looking forward to having him back. He’s a really enthusiastic guy, top enthusiasm with what he is doing, really good in the dressing room as well. My worry is getting him used to the standards and physicality of the Premier League, that would be my thing. It is not really anything as a player I am overly worried about.
What is the latest on injuries to Maxwel Cornet, Craig Dawson and Lucas Paqueta?
Cornet has had a small setback in training so Cornet is not available and I don’t know if it’s another week or another couple of weeks but it’s another set back for Cornet. Daws is improving but is not fit for the game, not fit at the moment. Paqueta is not available because of his collarbone to make it simple. But, hopefully, they are not too far away.
Will they make Sunday’s trip to Manchester United?
It will be really touch and go for Sunday as well.
Ben Johnson said that he can tell the French players are enjoying themselves, despite not speaking. That must be a good thing?
They are. We’ve got an incredible team spirit, really is. Behind the scenes here is a great team spirit. By the way, I fight them and challenge them and all of the new boys have got to join us how we want. The new boys, their characters have been really impressive to me.
Do you insist they all take English lessons?
I went to Spain and I tried to take Spanish lessons and I couldn’t speak Spanish in a year. I tried my nuts off to speak Spanish, I really did and if I got another year, I might have got better, I would have definitely been speaking it if I got another year at it. I’m not maybe one to comment on them, because I didn’t do it. Said’s (Benrahma) English for the amount of time he’s been here has not been great, but I’ve got to say, Nayef, brilliant English, Gianluca, brilliant English, Emerson, fantastic English. Strangely enough, Paqueta can’t speak it but I think he understands it and he’s doing really and I think he already speaks about three or four languages, so it might be something I hope he can pick up quickly.
Would you like there to be a rule where if you have a Thursday night game in Europe, you don’t play the Monday before?
Yes I would think so. But also the thing about the Champions League teams who played Wednesday and sometimes had the 12.30 kick-offs. Did they change that? You can only play 5.30. So they have adapted that to try and give the players a little bit of extra time. It does seem strange that you would go Monday night, Thursday, Sunday. If you said you’ve got it one week a year, you could live with it. We all know that this is a really busy schedule. I think somebody asked me about Declan Rice and Jarrod Bowen, if you look at Paqueta, if we’re playing them Monday, Thursday and Sunday, then into a World Cup, some people would say ‘what are you doing playing them every game when they are just about to start a World Cup?’
Silkeborg boss Kent Neilsen hoped you would make 11 changes to give them a fighting chance. What do you make of that?
First of all, I’m going to congratulate him on how well he has done with his side. I’ve been hugely impressed by how they have played, what they have tried to do. We were in the first game and we knew how difficult it was going to be. I mentioned Viborg earlier, how well they’ve done. I don’t think in any way would we underestimate them. We have got ourselves in a really good position with 12 points. If Silkeborg had 12 points and we had six, we’d be probably looking at them and saying we’re a long way away from them. We will try and do everything we can to win, we have to because a point would be very good for us, three points will be great. We’re trying to get through in the group but we’re also managing other things here, we’ve got League Cup games coming up, the boys are about to go the World Cup so there’s an awful amount of football to be thought about and played.
You’ve played Silkeborg and Anderlecht, who do you think were the better side of the two?
I feel that Silkeborg’s style is very good. I think Anderlecht, which comes with a bit of European history and European nous and knowhow a little bit, I think sometimes can add to it if you go to play an experienced European team. There’s a little bit of that would give Anderlecht an edge in some ways. I have to say, it is really difficult for any club to go and play on a plastic pitch and be as good as Silkeborg. We all maybe thought it must be an advantage, they beat Bucharest 5-0 at home, but then they go and beat them 5-0 [in Romania]. Do not think for a minute it was only because they were good on the plastic. Far from it and I definitely respect that and think they have a really good team.
What was the thinking behind using Flynn Downes as a No.10 against Bournemouth?
The thinking behind it was you will remember a year or two ago, we part Mark Noble there for a wee while because we had Tomas and put Mark higher up for a period. We did it tactically in the Liverpool game but at the moment, while I’ve not got Paqueta, I’m just looking to see what the best options are and how we get it. I thought he did well again, it’s another way he’s getting games for us at the moment. He’s in the team and he’s offering us something else. He keeps the ball well and recovers it well. He’s had a pretty good start in all of those roles at the moment, at times we’ve wanted to play him as third midfielder with Tomas and Declan, at times we wanted him to be the initial press for us, so we’re trying to integrate him. He’s maybe not exactly where he would want to be but I think most young players who break into teams don’t always get their valid position, I think sometimes you have to wait until things come along for you.
Was his ability to keep the ball a big part of that?
Yes. We did it because we just felt we’d maybe end of up with three midfield players and we just wanted the play. Because of Bournemouth, another team like Silkeborg who can try to build the play and build it from the back defensively, we tried to stop their deepest player and most of the time it was (Jefferson) Lerma or (Lewis) Cook. We just used Flynn to get more at them.
About six months ago you wanted a strong recruitment team in place, is that something you still want to bolster?
I would like to grow the club and I still do. The questions you might have asked me today might have been far different if the results were different. It’s very hard to always be going up and going in one direction as a football manager unless you’re at the top clubs. That adds its own pressures where you have to win every week and different things that come with that. I actually think going forward, one of things we’d like to do is continue to grow. I’ve got thoughts about that. We’ve got the recruitment department who had a busier summer than they wanted, but they did. Now, we are going back to the start. We need to recruit some young players for the future, we need to recruit some young players to come into the team some who might be back up to what we have got. In the future, I’d like to have a much stronger, better recruitment team because I think managers live or die by their recruitment. If you get your recruitment right, you probably stay in the job, if you don’t get your recruitment right, you probably don’t.
